“I left that big box tackle store more confused and frustrated than when I walked in!”

“I had never seen so many hooks, lures, and fishing gadgets in my life…”

“I was overwhelmed and no one seemed to be able to help explain things…”

We were having lunch with our friend that was in town from Michigan recently, and these were three of his quotes when we asked him how his fishing experience with his kids went the other day.

He was in town with his son and daughter, and he really wanted to take them fishing as he had such fond memories from all of the experiences he had fishing with his own father when he was a boy.

Sadly, he had moved around so much and had been so busy with work as an adult that he hadn’t been fishing in years.

So he did what most people do when they want to take their kids fishing…

He walked into a big box retailer store hoping to find some answers…

And he walked out with something like this…

Let’s be honest with ourselves…

A big credit card charge for a bunch of fishing tackle that you pray will work is not the answer.

We’ve got nothing against the big box retailer stores (we do some shopping in some of them ourselves), but we do believe they carry so much unnecessary stuff trying to please everyone, that it ends up overwhelming many anglers.

Especially parents trying to take their kids fishing for the first time.

There is nothing worse than walking into a tackle shop and being overwhelmed, only to find yourself overpaying for fishing tackle that you don’t need.

That is one of the main reasons my brother and I decided to create this free online fishing course for kids.

Salt Strong Online Fishing Course For Kids

The MISSION behind this free kid’s fishing course is pretty simple:

Getting kids outdoors “More Tackle Boxes and Less Xboxes”

Empowering parents with affordable and easy ways to create a fun and memorable experience with your kids

Helping parents and kids catch more fish in less time

Harnessing the power of the Internet to offer a free online course that you can take on your own time. Just as important, a course that you could view and reference anytime, anywhere, from any device

Teaching kids about conservation, how to hold and release fish, and how to stay safe while out on the water

Now although this is most likely the first comprehensive online fishing course ever made for kids and parents, it’s certainly not the only way to learn how to fish.

You see, there are some amazing fishing clinics and camps that go on all over the country.

One kid’s fishing clinic that we recommend for anglers in Florida is the FWC Kid’s Fishing Clinics (learn more here). There is also an amazing non-profit organization called, “Take A Kid Fishing” that puts on some excellent clinics and cookouts (learn more about TAKF here)

But there are a few of problems with these kid’s fishing clinics:

The current fishing clinics for kids are usually only hosted once or twice a month, so if you have soccer, baseball, vacation, or any other of the countless family obligations during those dates, you miss out.

After the clinic is done, there isn’t a place you can go to re-watch what you learned, and you can no longer easily ask questions to the teacher(s).

We aimed to fix those issues with this Salt Strong Online Kid’s Fishing Course.

Not only that, we will be adding new videos to this course frequently, so you will always be up to date with the latest and greatest fishing tips for kids and families.

What You Will Learn In This Kid’s Fishing Course

Although this particular kid’s fishing course is tailored for saltwater fishing, many of the lessons can be applied to freshwater fishing as well.

We’ve done our best to keep this course as simple to follow (without any fluff, advertisements, or sales pitches), and we’ve kept the videos short and sweet so that you can get more time in fishing!

Here are the six main modules in this online kid’s fishing course:

Tackle and Equipment – Everything you really need to have success fishing (and just as important, what you do NOT need)

Fishing Knots – We will teach you all of the knots that you need to know and when to use them

Conservation and Safety – One of the most important aspects of getting kids outside fishing is teaching them to appreciate and conserve what we have so that their kids can enjoy it

Note: The framework of this course just went live, so some areas are still being constructed… but it’ll be forever growing as great questions from you and others get submitted in order for this course to continually improve.

How To Use This Kid’s Fishing Course?

This fishing course for kids is 100% online, and you can access it from your computer, tablet, or phone.

We’ve tried to make it as user-friendly as possible with 6 different “Main Modules” and multiple lessons within each module. You will see an “Introduction” video at the beginning of every module to let you know what to expect.

Note: You can see the menu up at the top left of the screen. Simply click any of the 6 main module topics and you will see a drop-down box with the different videos.

Of course, we realize that some of you already know some of the tips so feel free to skip around if you are simply looking for a refresher or something specific.

There is a search bar at the top of the screen that you can use to find certain videos as well.

Finally, there is an area to ask questions or leave comments at the bottom of each lesson. Please don’t hesitate to ask anything there. All we ask is that you keep it family friendly.

P.S. – If you think any of your friends would like to see it, please feel free to share the link any way you want. This kid’s fishing course will always remain free and we want as many families to benefit from this as possible.

Fish On!

P.S. – Have you seen the online fishing courses for adults yet? Click here to see all of the current courses being offered along with our exclusive fishing club for inshore fishermen.

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I m not a kid ( actually I heve 2 allmost grown kids ),but I am absolute beginner in rod fishing…In Mediterranean where I live,( Croatia,Adriatic,Dalmatia)it is still more fishermans way to fishing from the hand…
Old fishermans say that its better feeling that way…
Anyway,I just want to learn something new,and this tutorial is simply the best…OK,I still have some nasty nest on my rod,but step by step…

Great article and love this saying: More Tackle Boxes and Less Xboxes I started fishing at a very early age in South Florida and never looked back. Teaching my kids fishing at an early age has been very rewarding. Here is another article that may be useful for just starting out kids when there really young. http://wiseangling.com/get-your-kids-interested-in-fishing/

Great first set. I agree with the cane pole fishing comment but more importantly can we have a non USA version please!
Some of us live outside the USA but still fish. Our lengths and sizes are metric We weigh in Kilograms and the names of fish are very different (e.g. Blue fish is a Shad in Durban and an Elf in Cape Town) Happy to work with you to produce an International version.

Hey Luke and Joe, thanks for doing this. As always, the info is great. However, in my opinion, there’s one significant omission, cane pole fishing. That’s how I learned to fish and that’s how I started my kids out. There are a lot of advantages. They’re cheap, or free if you cut your own bamboo. They work great for most fishing conditions – including boats, docks, piers, seawalls, beaches and river banks. Also, if fishing your home county in Florida, even adults don’t need licenses if fishing from a boat. I grew up fishing with cane poles, lake fishing for bluegill and crappie in Georgia. When we moved to Florida in the mid-50’s, my grandmother began us fishing at John’s Pass in Madeira Beach. I’d estimate that in the late 50’s and early 60’s over half of the fishing there was still being done with cane poles, including oversized calcutta poles which pulled in some true monsters. Here’s a great short article from Outdoor Life which discusses some of the benefits and includes instructions on how to make your own cane pole: http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/fishing/2015/07/how-fish-cane-pole.

To heck with the kids I need the help before I can help them lol. Hopefully this will teach an oldie but goody the tricks he needs to catch as well. We love to fish and it is mostly saltwater so this should help immensely. You are right the big box stores just love to see someone like me coming. Totally green

SUPER IDEA. I have five grandkids, age 10 down to age 6, and I have taken them all fishing…I love this idea…but one suggestion…kids have a short attention span, and I just watched the one on spinning reels . I think too wordy, and too long. Some of your explanations seem a little “overkill” but maybe your target audience is older kids. At the last segment, I got bored, too much talking. But I love this course. Keep up the good work
Captain Joe

Hey Joe, thanks for making time to check out the course and for the tips.

Yes, some of the topics are way too long for kids. Our assumption was that mostly parents would be taking the course and then passing along the tips to their kids, so we added reason as to why the steps are needed. If it turns out that kids are taking the course, then we’ll certainly need to adjust it to shorter and more targeted topics.

Perhaps we can build out a “kids corner” section specifically for the kids that focuses solely on the steps (without detailed reasoning) that could hold their attention better.

The best tip that I can give you, especially involving teaching young kids to fish, is to take them somewhere (freshwater) where it is fairly certain that they will catch fish. I have found that golf course ponds provide bluegill, sunfish, and bass that are generally eager to take a bait. If kids catch fish they are more likely to want to come back. If not, they will more likely not be interested in trying it again. As they mature they can be taught more advanced fishing techniques and will hopefully develop the desire to want to seek out larger fish in the salt.

Thanks for the tip Jerry! I’ll be adding a video showing how to make a rig that is almost guaranteed to catch small pinfish or mangrove snapper (saltwater equivalent to bluegill) from almost any dock for the really young kids. Fish On!